


5 times Elena accidentally called Schneider "dad"...

by MagicClem



Category: One Day at a Time (TV 2017)
Genre: (to be fair he is kind of a jerk in the show too), 5+1 Things, A LOT OF CUTENESS, And a little bit of angst, Attempt at Humor, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Not Beta Read, Victor is kind of a jerk here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 15:44:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18055343
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicClem/pseuds/MagicClem
Summary: ... and one time it was not so accidental





	5 times Elena accidentally called Schneider "dad"...

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!
> 
> This is my first fic for this fandom! I have a LOT of feeling about Elena and Schneider's relationship and I wanted to share them with you! I hope you guys will like it!

1.

After her Quinces, Elena starts to hang out more at Schneider's place. She doesn’t even realise it at first, not until Alex points it out.

The thing is, everyone is acting like she is made of glass since her Quinces. No one talks about her  _ papi _  and what happened but everyone is worried about her and she gets it, she really does. They are all concerned because she spent days after that depressed and she felt miserable. She wants to hate her father for that but he is also her  _ papi _  and it’s complicated. But she doesn’t like that everyone is acting like she is going to break down at any moment. Sometimes, she feels bad and she doesn’t want to talk about it. Sometimes, she just wants to play video games and not talk about the fact that her dad let her down and broke her heart at the same time, it doesn’t sound that crazy right?

So yeah, she starts to hang out with Schneider more because of that. It’s not that he is not worried about her, because she knows he is. It’s just that when she tells him she doesn’t want to talk about it and just wants to play video games, he just plays video games with her and doesn’t ask questions. And it does make her feel better. Elena thinks he understands her better because his dad wasn’t father of the year either. She loves her family, but they don’t understand that, not really. Even Alex, who knows his dad is the jerk who left his daughter's quinces, he was not the one who had to stand alone on that dance floor. He doesn't get it. But Schneider does. And so, she hangs out with him.

It’s weird how he is not that bad once you actually know him a little. Sure, he is a bit clueless but he doesn’t mean to be insensitive and he does listen to her, she notices he makes effort to improve and she likes that. And sure, he is a bit of a child, but she feels safe around him, she feels good around him. And she loves her family but sometimes, she feels like an outsider in her own family but Schneider does help her feel better about that too.

So yeah, she spends time with Schneider, so much time that at this point, her  _ mami  _ knows to look for her at Schneider’s place when she is nowhere to be found in their apartment. And yeah, she mostly goes to his place when she is upset about her dad. And yeah, she goes there at least trice a week. But it’s no big deal, she is fine.

On a Friday night, six months after her Quinces, Elena is in her room, watching  _ Fresh Prince of Bel-Air _ . Maybe not her brightest idea, because it’s the episode where Will’s dad leaves him again and maybe it hits a little bit to close to home but her room suddenly feels too small and she knows it’s kinda late but she needs to gets out and so, she goes to Schneider’s. He opens the door and doesn’t ask questions, just tells her he bought a new video game and maybe she wants to play and she doesn’t really care about the game but she agrees.

And for a moment, they play in silence and it’s tense and Elena feels tense. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, she starts crying, all the emotion she was holding back all these months finally coming out and she cries and cries and cries. Then, she feels arms around her and Schneider is holding her, rubbing her back and saying « I got you » and she just cries and doesn’t say anything. She cries until she had no tears left in her. She cries until she feels exhausted, like all her energy left her body and she says:

"Can I lie down a minute?"

"Of course," he says.

So, she lies down a minute and she feels herself fall asleep. She doesn’t hear Schneider calling her mom to let her know that Elena is with him and she fell asleep on his couch. But she feels someone putting a blanket on her and she knows it’s Schneider but she is too tired to think and she says:

"Thanks dad."

And she is too tired to even realise it.

2.

The family decides to go out for dinner. Well, family is a loose word here, because Schneider and Doctor B. tag along but Elena is fine with that. Victor is also there. He said he wanted to try to make things better with her and Elena isn’t sure she can forgive him yet, but she wants to try because the last year without her dad was awful. It’s actually quite nice, spending time with everyone, and she is having a good time. Her  _ abuelita _  is dramatic as always, Alex is being his charming and annoying self, her  _ papi _  is really trying to be nice, he asks her questions about her life, even if they are really superficial and he clearly avoids questions about her love life, which is good, she is not ready to talk about that with him.

So yeah, her  _ mami _  had a good idea with that dinner, because she isn’t sure she could spend time with her dad alone without it ending badly. Diner in public with other people to make sure things don’t get out of hand is the perfect middle ground. She is actually having fun.

The only problem is that her fries are not salty enough. She doesn’t understand how someone can fail to put salt on fries but somehow, whoever made her meal did. It’s not a big deal, she just looks around the table, looking for the salt shaker. She notices it next to Schneider and she says:

"Dad, can you give me the salt please?"

She doesn’t even realise it until Victor tells her he doesn’t know where it is and then, she is very aware of the fact that she just called Schneider  _ dad _  and she has no idea where this was coming from. No one seems to notice and if they think it’s weird that she said "dad" instead of " _ papi _  ", no one mentions it. Elena just says "where is it then?" and it’s an easy save. Her  _ mami _ , who is sitting next to Schneider, notices it first and gives it to her, and she thanks her and everyone goes back to whatever they were talking about before.

It’s not a big deal really. Everything is fine, no one knows and no one will ever know. It happens all the time right? Calling your landlord/friend "dad" is kinda the equivalent of calling a teacher "mom", right? She never did the latter and she isn’t 6 anymore, but it can still happen, right? No need to read into that. It’s nothing.

She still avoids to look into Schneider’s direction for the rest of the evening.

3.

Elena has to admit that working with Schneider is actually great. She would never tell him that obviously, but she likes the job and she likes spending time with him. When her father walked out of her quinces (and her life), Schneider was there for her and those moments working with him were the best part about it. It was all her dad could have taught her except he was not interested in the job, so Schneider was the one who did it. And sure, now her dad is back in her life, but it would feel wrong to ask him to do this: it was Schneider’s job now.

It is supposed to be another day at work and Schneider is supposed to teach something new (he refused to tell her what, no matter how much she insisted). She is actually really excited about it. But when she arrives in his apartment, she founds Schneider, who looks lost in his thought which is… unsettling. Schneider is not the kind of guy who just sits and thinks about life.

"Is everything alright?" she asks.

He turns his head to her, clearly surprised, like he didn’t even hear her come in. Whatever he had been thinking about, he was way too focused on it. It was weird.

"Yeah," he says. "I was just thinking about something your mom told me. Long story short, I think I’m bi."

It takes a few seconds before Elena understands what he is saying and then, her brain starts racing.

"Oh my God, you have to tell me more, I mean, if you’re comfortable with talking about it, if you’re not it’s fine but if you are, I want all the details!"

That’s how Schneider spends the next 30 minutes telling her everything: how her mom made a joke about how Schneider should maybe date her ex Max because he was more obsessed with him that she had ever been and how this had actually made him reconsider the way he was seeing men because before that stupid joke her mom made out of frustration because Schneider couldn’t stop bringing her ex up, he had never considered the fact that maybe the way he was seeing men was not how "normal straight guys" did. Because Schneider never considered the fact that thinking men were hot was not something "normal straight guys" did or never thought that maybe "normal straight guys" don’t look at Chris Hemsworth and want to know what it feels like to touch those abs or what he feels like to be kissed by a men like that. There is also the fact that now that he thinks about it, he might have dated guys when he was in college without even realising it, but "normal straight guys" don’t have friends they kiss and have sex with, which, when you think about it, should have made it obvious to him. But well, if you believe Tumblr, being an oblivious idiot is what bisexuals are all about, so maybe it makes sense that Schneider is bi. Elena doesn’t really care, she is just excited about the whole thing.

"That’s so great! You know what we should do? We should all go to Pride this year, you, me and Syd, it would be so cool, oh my god, I’m so excited about all this, I’m so proud of you dad!"

This time, she realises what she just said as soon as the word leaves her mouth. She wishes Schneider didn’t hear it but by the way he looks at her, first shocked and then, smiling with a stupid grin she has never seen, it’s clear he heard her. She feels her cheeks becoming red and she just stands up abruptly and says:

"I meant dude! I’m so proud of you,  ** dude ** . I should go, I have a big test tomorrow, math, it’s the worst, I forgot about it, I should go."

She is rambling, she knows it and she is basically running to the door at this point but before she can leave, she hears Schneider calling her. She stops, prays he won’t comment on it because she is embarrassed but he just tells her, his stupid grin still on his face:

"I would love to go to Pride with you and Syd."

Then, she leaves, because she is still embarrassed because she called him "dad"  _ again _  but this time, she is also the one who is smiling.

4.

Elena should have known better. Really, she was stupid to begin with, it was obvious that despite all her  _ papi _ ’s best effort, he was not at all okay with her sexuality. He tries, she can’t say he doesn’t because that would be lying, but he doesn’t try hard enough. It feels like it always goes in circle with him : she tells him she is gay, he leaves her at her quinces, he comes back saying he will do better and he does, for a little while and then, Elena will do or say something  _ too gay _  for him and he will disappear, until he comes back and you can repeat the cycle again. And every time he comes back, Elena believes him when he tells her he will try harder this time and every time, he fails her. The first time was the quinces obviously. But then, the "pride incident" happened: basically, an amazing picture of Elena at Pride had been used in different media to talk about this year's pride. It was an coincidence, Elena didn’t try to be on a picture but it’s Pride, cameras are everywhere and she must be in so many pictures. And this picture was really good, Elena used it as her Twitter profile picture and posted it on her Tumblr and on her Instagram. She was very proud of it. Her  _ papi  _ was not thrilled however, because he said something about her "not having to parade like that" and after that, he didn’t talk to her for about 4 months. And then, he came back again and then, she did something again (she couldn’t even tell what this time) and he disappeared for 3 months again. And then, he came back  ** again ** . And again, he promised her that this time, he would do better and she believed him because she really wanted it to be true, but of course, this time again, he failed her.

They were having dinner at the restaurant, just the two of them. It was terribly awkward and Elena wished she had planned something with more people. But no, she was there, with only her  _ papi _ . He asked her questions about her life and this time, Elena decided to talk about Syd. Her  _ papi  _ knew she was dating someone, it’s not really a secret, but Elena doesn’t talk about Syd with him. Not that she is ashamed of them, she just knows that her  _ papi _  doesn’t want to hear that. But Elena wants to talk about it because she has been dating Syd for so long and she wants them to meet her  _ papi  _ and for that to happen, she needs to be sure her  _ papi  _ will not act like a jerk. That’s also where the problem starts because her  _ papi  _ uses the wrong pronoun. Elena doesn’t get mad, she knows her  _ papi  _ is not really aware of all of this, he probably just doesn’t know, she just explains to him calmly that Syd is non-binary and that he should use they/them pronouns when he talks about them. Easy enough. Except he doesn’t do it. The first time, she doesn’t say anything, because he just doesn’t try to be mean. The second time, she corrects him, still being nice. But the meal continues and it looks like her dad makes no effort to even  _ try  _ to use the right pronouns and Elena loses her cool. So, the meal ends with Elena screaming at her dad in front of the entire restaurant because she is angry and then, she takes her stuff and leaves the place. Her  _ papi  _ calls her name but she ignores him, she just runs as far away from there as she can, feeling tears falling down her cheeks. She should have known better than trying again with him.

Now, she is back in their building but she doesn’t want to go home. If she gets home, she will have to explain to her family what happened with Victor and she doesn’t want to tell them right now. She knows what they will say, they always tell her the same thing: they will tell her that it will be alright and that he will "come around". Except, she is tired of waiting for him to "come around" and she is tired of him disappointed her again and again and again. She doesn’t want to go home, so instead, she just goes to Schneider’s.

He opens the door immediately and seems surprised to see her but before he can even say anything, she starts crying again and Schneider just takes her in his arm and rubs her back and doesn’t say anything. He takes her inside and gets her some cookies, the ones she loves the most but she can never have at home because they are too expensive according to her mom (and she is right, because it’s the price to pay when you want something made with good, organic products that are not cheap because of the exploitation of poor workers). She takes one, then another and Schneider just says:

"Do you wanna talk about it? Or do you want to play video games?"

And usually, she would take the second option, but tonight, she wants to talk about it because she is sad but also, she is angry, something she didn’t even realised until Schneider just asked her if she wanted to talk about it. So she tells him what happened and she tells him how tired she is of just keep trying and keep being let down again and again and again. And she expects him to tell her the same thing, that her  _ papi  _ will "come around". But Schneider can be full of surprised sometimes, because he tells her:

"Listen, take it from a guy with a terrible dad too, but sometimes, it’s best to just stop trying. I’m not saying you should stop trying completely, you’re still young and well, your dad might surprise you eventually. But sometimes, forcing a relationship because it’s family can hurt you more than just letting it go."

And she knows he is talking from experience, because she met his dad, even if it was for a very brief moment (still too much if you ask her). But a few days with his dad made Schneider drink again. She understands what he means and she doesn’t know how to apply this advice to her life right now, and she is not sure she wants to go too deep into that either, so instead, she just says:

'Why are you never eating those cookies anyway?'

"I don’t like them."

"What are you buying them then?"

"Because you do."

He says it like it’s obvious and maybe it is for him and Elena doesn’t know what else to say so she hugs him again. And then, she says:

"It’s getting late, I should get home before mom gets worried."

"Sure things. But if you need anything, I’m always here, you know that right?"

"I do," Elena says with a soft smile. "Thanks dad."

This time, she doesn’t realise it until she sees that smile on Schneider’s face again, the exact same than last time and what she just said hits her. But Schneider is nice enough to just respond by "goodnight" and she is happy to pretend she didn’t say anything, so she says "goodnight" and leaves.

But when her  _ papi _  calls her 2 months later, asking her to hang out again and that this time, he promises, he will do better, Elena tells him that she would love to see him again but she won’t see him alone anymore.

5.

Elena is actually very happy that her  _ mami _  and Schneider finally admit their undying love for each other because seeing them pining for each other was painful to watch. She is not happy about the fact that this happened while she was away at Yale, because she wanted to see it dammit. So, she was really happy when Schneider bought her plane tickets to get home for Thanksgiving, because she misses her family a lot and also, her mom needs to tell her the whole story about Schneider and her. And Thanksgiving is amazing, she has a great time with her family and her  _ mami  _ does tell her all the details about how her and Schneider finally started dating (it involves a lot of both of them being oblivious idiots and her  _ mami  _ not knowing what to do because she made it so clear she wanted to be friends and now she can’t just come and say she changed her mind and it also involves Alex and  _ abuelita  _ talking some sense into her because she is being an idiot). Definitively, it was worth it to come and Elena is glad she did, even if taking the plane is bad for the planet.

What is not amazing is her  _ mami  _ getting sick the day she is supposed to go back. It’s not a big deal, because Schneider will take her to the airport but well, Elena wanted to say goodbye to her mom at the airport. But instead, she ends in a car with Schneider, who is asking so many questions about her life at Yale and Elena is very happy to answer. She gets to ask him about his version of finally starting dating her mom (it involves a lot of both of them being oblivious idiots and Schneider thinking there is  _ no way  _ her  _ mami  _ could ever be interested in him because he is well, him and she is amazing and Penelope just knocking at his door and telling him she loves him and him kissing her and that’s the moment where Elena decides she has enough details). The car ride actually ends really fast, too soon if you ask Elena.

Once there are in the airport, in front of the security, Schneider goes in full Cuban mom mode:

"Do you have everything? Your passport? Your meds for your anxiety? Your keys? Your phone? Or maybe your…"

"Oh my god, chill dad, you’re worst than mom!"

And she doesn’t register it until Schneider smiles with this stupid grin she only sees when she accidentally calls him dad and she does feel her cheeks becoming red but this time, she doesn’t try to run away because if she does, she will not be able to say goodbye to him and this idea is worse than the idea of accidentally calling him dad again. So instead, she just adds:

"I have everything and even if I did forgot something, I can call home and you will send me everything."

And Schneider just smiles and then, he hugs her and she hugs him back. He kisses the top of her head and says:

"Have a safe flight kiddo. Love you."

"Love you too," she says.

And after passing security, she turns around and waves in his direction one last time.

+1

Elena sometimes thinks about all the stuff she believed she would do or never do when she was a teenager. Some of those things were true: she became a journalist (and a really good one at that, she knows that more than one of her articles are in the Alvarez Museum now), she did adopt a few cats with Syd, she is still with Syd and still very much in love with them. There is also stuff that she got wrong at the time: she did believe she would never have children but now that she is 26, she does think that maybe, adopting a few children would not be that bad (but like, older children, maybe even teenagers, Elena still doesn’t think she wants a baby and neither does Syd anyway). And she used to believe she would never marry anyone because marriage is an archaic and sexist institution but right now, on her wedding day, she must admit that marriage isn’t that bad.

It’s not a big wedding, Elena would never want a big wedding. It’s as small as it can be with a family like hers of course because she can’t get married without the family there (according to her  _ mami  _ and her  _ abuelita _  at least) but it’s fine, she is happy anyway. She also invited some of her friends from high school (well, Carmen and Josh, they are the only two she still talks to now) and some of her close friends from college and from work and Syd invited their family and close friends and it’s actually fun. Elena and Syd are wearing matching suits that are stunning (her  _ abuelita  _ outdid herself here) and her  _ mami  _ walked her down the aisle and yeah, maybe Elena cried a little, but only happy tears, because she is marrying the love of her life and it feels truly amazing.

And the party afterward is just as great. She has fun, the food they got is truly delicious, the wine is just as good and well, she is a good Cuban girl and she dances a lot with her family and her friends and she dances even more with her spouse (it’s the word they agreed on for Syd, even if Elena thinks she will never drop the Syd-gnificant Other for them, it was too good to ever go away).

Then, there is the father-child dance. When they were planning the wedding, Elena knew this was going to be a problem, because she knew her father wouldn’t be there. He didn’t answer but Elena is not surprised, because their relationship only got worse with time. He was never willing to put too much effort in making it better and like Schneider said, Elena got tired of being the one who did most of the work, tired of being hurt and realised it was better to stop trying. And it hurt to stop, it did, but it was better than constantly being let down by him. With time, she sees how it was a good decision. But there are moments where it does hurt and this was one of those. At first, the solution was easy, she could dance with her mom, but when Syd’s mom heard that, she said it was unfair and it was, so in the end, they decide to just do a father-child dance and then a mother-child dance.

And now, it was the father-child dance and Elena was fine. Syd looks happy with their dad and that in itself is worth it for her. Then, Paula, one of Elena’s closest friend from work comes next to her and asks her why she doesn’t dance with her dad and when Elena tells her that her dad isn’t there, Paula just looks confused and then says:

"I thought the guy with your mom was your dad."

And Elena wants to laugh and say that it’s not her dad, it’s  _ Schneider _  but she doesn’t. Because her mind starts to think fast. Because Schneider is not her dad but also, he was there for her when her actual dad was not. And he was there when she was sad and didn’t want to talk about it. And he was there when she was sad and did want to talk about it. He was there when she was happy, he celebrated her success just like her  _ mami  _ did, he was there to help her with everything, he was there when she graduated high school and when she graduated college, he was there to take her out to celebrate her first job, he was always there when her actual dad decided he wasn’t interested in the job. He was there, and he is right here today, he was crying earlier during the ceremony and he was also crying when she danced with Syd and he is here, being proud of her like he always is. And it’s like something clicks in her mind at this moment, something she never admitted but was there since she was 15, alone on that dance floor. That Victor might have been her father, he might be her  _ biological  _ father, but Schneider is the one who was there, who took that place in her life when her father walked away. And so, she leaves Paula and goes next to Schneider. He smiles at her and he still looks so proud of her and she wonders why it took her so long to see that. And she smiles back at him and says:

"Wanna dance?"

"It’s the father-child dance," he says.

"Yeah, I know."

It takes a few seconds for him to understand what she means and she loves how surprised he looks and then, how his entire face lights up and how his eyes start to tear up a little when he says:

"I would be honored."

So they go on the dance floor and start dancing. Elena is smiling and Schneider is smiling back at her, with that stupid grin she saw a couple of time when she used to accidentally call him « dad » and now, she understands it. And she wants to tell him that she does understand now but she feels like nothing she could say would be enough, nothing she could say would feel enough to express what she just realised, so she doesn’t say anything and she just dances with him. And when the dance is almost over, he kisses the top of her head, like he did so many times before and says:

"I’m really proud of you. I love you Elena."

And she smiles and this time, it’s not an accident when she says:

"I love you too dad."

**Author's Note:**

> So, I hope you liked it!
> 
> English isn't my first language, so if you see some mistakes, you can tell me, I'll fix them! 
> 
> As usual, comments are appreciated :D


End file.
